The guys at IGN pretty much nailed the description of this game. It's definitely whatever Dinosaur Planet was going to be with Star Fox laid over the top of it. That's not to say it's not a great game, but there are some situations you know Fox might have called in the whole team...and the space sequences are merely ways to get from one place to the next...the ship doesn't even explode in one hit when you run into solid walls...

Now hold on there. This was a great game. I just wanted to get the negatives out of the way first. The story is well done, the voice acting is spot-on (lip-syncing and all), and the character design is well done and fits the Star Fox universe, even if you never really leave this one planet. The game sends some simple puzzles at you in the way of level design early on, and you progressively learn to do more things with similar items throughout the quest. The heart of the game is the beautiful game design that slowly ramps up the difficultly of the puzzles, and starts compiling them together. There are some places that Fox must go through two, three, four, or more times in the adventure, and each time, he either has to go farther, or take a different route due to him learning something new along the way. About the only thing missing is Fox using his blaster, but since it explains very early in the game why he doesn't have it, I'm not really upset about it. Besides, Fox can do some pretty sweet moves with that staff he picks up.

If nothing else, the Star Fox license is used to great effect with the character design, voice acting, and (above all else) the final battle sequence of the game. Keep in the mind, the game is still an action adventure (with equal doses of both), so you wont be coming here for the flight segments. In fact, don't come for the flight segments...they seemed more tacked on for the Star Fox part of the game, than the overall presentation. Buy this game for the flawless gameplay, fun puzzles, and the ability to make you want to sit down for 20+ Hours straight the first time you play it and beat it the first time through. Seriously, that's what I did.

Uber Star Wolf gives the game a 9 out of 10.

Now lets be honest; You all own this game already or will have it under the tree this year, right? Well, let me tell you...it's fun, and probably worth it, but it still feels shorter than Grand Theft Auto 3. I'm not sure how much shorter since I hadn't played GTA3 in a long time, but it just didn't feel as long.

Let's get the few negatives out of the way first, though. One of the great new features is the ability to walk inside of buildings...not every building, but quite a few. The downside to this is that the camera can sometimes be really, really bad...shaking back and forth rapidly and making you sick. This can sometimes happen outside, but not nearly as often. Like the camera, many of the bad things have come about from new good things. For example, cops in Vice City don't wait to be shot at like they did in GTA3. If you so much as aim at them (while they are looking), you get a "Drop your weapon!" and I believe a star (I'm writing this review long after the last time I played it). This can throw you off if you're ::cough:: putting in a code or something. Another somewhat bad thing is, in the previous GTA's (2 and 3 come to mind), the "border" of the city was surrounded by some type of long highway...this was helpful for long pursuits as well as helping you learn your locations. In Vice City, the game is set up more like a real city...and a city with a beach at that. So, the east side of one whole island if just a really big beach. If you have a Dune Buggie, this is fine. If you are running from the cops and are missing a couple tires in a Buick, this is bad. And, again, that brings up one other point of bother. It seems to me that, after you "unlock" the second island in the game, there isn't really any other missions or—heck—property to buy on the first island. It seemed a bit unbalanced.

Having gotten the bad out of the way, let's talk of the good. The game is everything GTA3 was, and more. And I know scant few people who didn't like GTA3, so that's a start. Also, in this game, you aren't a nameless thug. No, no, you have a name, a look, and a voice, and all of them are appropriate for the game. In fact, if I recall correctly, the voice for your main character and his lawyer are both from the movie Goodfellows. Also, on top of that, this game isn't just about you getting power and doing missions for people. No, this game is about you needing to get back some money from a deal gone bad, and along the way the main character decides it's better to own the town than pay back said money. This comes into play for the "final" mission of the game, which rocked, and really summed up the plot. It wasn't as epic as the battle at the end of GTA3, but to have done something that huge at the end of Vice City wouldn't have been very realistic, in retrospect. Your main character is a business man, not a nameless thug. In fact, the reasons for why he's in this situation really come around in the sequence before that final mission, and it really gives the game a more "real" feel to it when you actually get a face, name, and voice for your main character. It makes you care. Some RPG's think 80 Hours of play are great...but I don't want endless leveling up just to beat the final boss of the game, I want a plot and action like—I don't know—Conker's Bad Fur Day. This game kicks the last games ass for Plot.

The rest of the game, plot included, all goes together. The missions all relate (eventually) to the main plot as nothing seems to really be there just to give you something to do. I liked having mini-missions like before but they still have relevance. It was fun. And yes, I liked the Taxi Cab with the black, spray-paint stripes. Mine. The only thing I wasn't able to do was see if there was another ending to the game, since I only rented it. Right after you finish, lots of people you knew call you up and talk because of things you've done in the game. It made me feel like "yes, you beat the game, but the world lives on" and it felt good. I liked double the amount of weapons (one of each type), and I liked being able to shoot people in cars, and shoot out tires...and I even liked the cops pulling out the spike strips for you. I even liked that I can now bail from a fast moving car or bike. That's very nice.

Overall, the game was good, but it just felt short. If I actually owned it, I probably would have gone back and played it again by now. However, since I don't, I haven't. I liked having to buy Save Points and places of business, and I hope the next game will let me pretty much buy the whole town (and maybe build whatever I want). And, for the love of God, put this game on my Cube! Please!!!

The Man with the Steel Baseball Bat says: 9.1 out of 10

P.S.: The GTA2 Poster on the wall of the main character's room in the opening sequence was great (might have been the first GTA, but I think it was 2). Nice touch.